Chan Chan, capital city and chief administrative center of the Chimú kingdom, which flourished in Peru from AD 1100 to 1470. The ruins of Chan Chan are situated along the shore of the Pacific Ocean near the mouth of the Moche River, just north of the modern city of Trujillo, Peru. The largest urban center in South America before the arrival of Europeans in the 1500s, Chan Chan encompassed an area of 20 sq km (7.7 sq mi) and had a population of at least 25,000. At the height of its power, the Chimú kingdom controlled all of the northern and many of the central coastal valleys of Peru.
The kingdom's central site contained nine walled compounds known as ciudadellas, or little cities. Beginning in 1969, a team of Harvard University archaeologists studied and mapped the site, determining that each ciudadella represented the palace compound of an individual Chimú king. While a king was alive, the ciudadella served as his residence and administrative center, as well as the storage area for his wealth. Upon his death, the king was buried within the compound in an elaborate platform surrounded by treasures and accompanied by up to 300 sacrificial victims. The ciudadella then became his mausoleum, maintained by his kinsmen. The next king had to build his own palace compound.
